Subsidies Cost Bpa Millions

The millions spent on fish recovery is only one of the costs weighing on the Bonneville Power Administration.

The regional power supplier also pours money into subsidies for irrigators, navigators and aluminum smelters.

“These were sweet deals cut back in the 1930s and ‘40s when they made sense. Times have changed,” said William Bean of the Columbia Basin Institute in Portland, a non-profit think tank.

Bruce Lovelin of the Columbia River Alliance, which represents irrigators, navigators, aluminum companies and other river users, agreed it’s time to examine all of BPA’s costs, including subsidies.

“Everything should be on the table. There can’t be any sacred cows. BPA is in a do-or-die situation.”

But changing some subsidies would be difficult, predicted John Keys of the Bureau of Reclamation’s regional office in Boise.

“It’s fair to take a look at it. But these power rates are things people have come to count on,” he said. “One person’s subsidy is another person’s livelihood.”

Irrigators: Water diverted for irrigation costs from $100 million to $300 million a year in foregone power revenue, a congressional subcommittee estimated in 1994.

Every year, 16 million acre feet of water is taken from the Columbia and Snake rivers for irrigation, enough to fill Lake Roosevelt three times, said Roy Fox of BPA.

Half the water never returns back to the river, Fox said.

Bonneville also supplies irrigators cut-rate power, at a cost to BPA ratepayers of $10.6 million this year alone, records show. The utility is proposing to do away with that subsidy next year.

Bonneville also sells power to the federal Bureau of Reclamation for irrigators’ use at about one-fifth the market rate. That costs ratepayers $32 million a year, according to 1994 estimates by a congressional subcommittee.

BPA also will soon shoulder $800 million debt for construction of the Columbia Basin water project, an old debt on which the first payment, $24.7 million, comes due in 1997.

Interest on the debt, which has been on the books for more than 50 years, has been paid by taxpayers.

Navigators: Taxpayers and BPA ratepayers foot the bill for maintenance and operation of navigation locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers. All users, from pleasure boats to commercial grain barges, get a free ride.

Each time a lock is opened for boats and barges, about 48 million gallons of water are spilled, enough to generate about $700 worth of electricity, the BPA said.

Aluminum companies: Aluminum smelters benefit from a variable electrical rate granted by the BPA. It allows them to cut power costs when aluminum prices are low, and pay more for electricity when prices are high.

, DataTimes